Bush Caught in the Middle on Stem Cells

July 5, 2001 (Washington) -- Any day now, President George W. Bush is expected to announce a final decision on whether federal monies can be used for embryonic stem cell research.

He's being pressed hard from both sides of this contentious question.

The research is heralded by many biomedical scientists, disease research groups, and a growing list of lawmakers as incredibly promising in terms of cures for a range of diseases that have no cure, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and cancer.

So why all the debate? Embryonic stem cell studies require the destruction of human embryos, which the Catholic Church, antiabortion organizations, and some Republican lawmakers strongly condemn as immoral.

To this point, some Bush advisers believe that blocking federal funding is crucial to pleasing Catholic voters and conservatives. Others in the Bush Administration, such as health secretary Tommy Thompson, say the research is too important to oppose.

Since stem cells are "blank," immature cells that have the ability to divide infinitely and develop into any cell type -- blood, brain, skin, muscle, and so on -- early animal research beckons that they may be a replacement solution to damaged and malfunctioning organs and tissue.

Although federal law prohibits the use of federal funds for human embryo research, the Clinton Administration cleared the way for funding by deciding early in 1999 that cells from an embryo weren't the same as an embryo itself.

But President Bush has put that controversial legal opinion on hold as he completes a review of the situation. In the meantime, embryonic stem cell research proposals submitted to the National Institutes of Health earlier this year, wait for the outcome.

Proponents of funding for research on the embryonic stem cells note that the cells are taken from early-stage "excess" frozen embryos from fertility clinics, which already may be legally destroyed.

On the other hand, those who oppose the funding equate the research as requiring the killing of human life. They propose that NIH instead only fund research on stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood, placentas, and adult tissues.

In a July 2 statement, leading Republicans House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Texas), House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Texas), and House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts Jr. (Okla.), said, "It is not pro-life to rely on an industry of death, even if the intention is to find cures for diseases."